The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) served a notice to wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday regarding a whereabouts failure, requiring her to provide an explanation within 14 days.
Vinesh announced her retirement from wrestling after being disqualified from the Paris Olympics in August, citing a lack of strength to continue. The 29-year-old athlete was disqualified for being 100 grams overweight before her gold medal bout in the 50 kg category and shared her decision on social media.
As a member of NADA’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP), Vinesh is obligated to inform NADA of her availability for dope tests. If an athlete is unavailable at the specified location during a scheduled testing time, it is deemed a whereabouts failure.
According to NADA’s notice, Vinesh was marked as unavailable for a dope test on September 9 at her residence in Kharkhoda village, Sonepat.
Following her disqualification in Paris, Vinesh, along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, recently joined the Congress party and is currently campaigning for the Haryana Assembly election from the Julana constituency.
The NADA notice stated, “You are hereby given a formal notice regarding your apparent failure to comply with the whereabouts requirements of the ADR, and you are invited to make any comments before a final decision is made.” It further clarified that a Dope Control Officer (DCO) was dispatched to her location on the designated day and time but was unable to locate her for testing.
Vinesh must either accept the whereabouts failure or provide evidence that she was present at the specified location for approximately 60 minutes. It’s important to note that a single whereabouts failure does not constitute an anti-doping rule violation; an athlete must accumulate three whereabouts failures (either filing failures or missed tests) within a 12-month period for NADA to take action.
